The invention relates generally to coils for electric machines, and more particularly to a technique for winding rectangular Litz coils without risk of damage associated with edge-wise bends.
Rectangular coils such as field winding coils for electric machines are traditionally wound with the planar surface of the wider faces perpendicular to the orientation or radial direction of the coil slots in order to minimize AC losses associated with slot leakage. These traditional coil winding techniques result in turns having difficult edge-wise bends of the coil conductor(s). Such coil winding techniques also present challenges when winding coils using insulated conductors.
It would be advantageous to provide a technique for winding coils for electric machines that overcomes the disadvantages described above associated with traditional coil winding techniques for electric machines.